Ohio State director of athletics Gene Smith collected an $18,000 bonus after a Buckeyes wrestler won an NCAA championship earlier this month. / AP Photo

Written by

Chris Chase

USA Today

We’ve come to accept that college sports, what with their billions of dollars in revenues and amateur athletes, are imperfect. Mostly, we ignore this, because who wants to focus on the difficult nuances of amateur athletics while watching events that are supposed to be diversions?

But every now and then, something temporarily jars us loose and forces us to confront the hypocrisy.

Ohio State is paying Urban Meyer $4 million per year to coach its football team. We just spent four straight days watching amateurs compete in a tournament that will bring the NCAA more than $10 billion in television rights fees.

But an AD gets a small bonus and it feels like a wake-up call.

The news of the bonus has led to a predictable backlash from folks who can’t figure why an athletic director should be rewarded for the success of an individual athlete in a non-revenue sport.

Meanwhile that athlete is banned from cashing in on his athletic exploits. Bonuses for coaches and athletic directors are common, so Smith’s situation is nothing new.

It’s just touched a nerve in the middle of the NCAA’s biggest event of the year.